Parenting Class - Mario Limon

About 7 years ago. I had an appendicitis, And and it had, it had inflamed. It was supposed to be like a 15 minute procedure. ended up being a 2 hour procedure and I was intubated for about 2 hours.

So when I came through from the surgery, That mixed in with hiccups for about 12 hours just jacked up my vocal cords so I came out of the hospital with a mafia voice. My kids are pretty happy about that. I can't yell at them anymore. so, yeah, my name is Mario Limon.

I've been at Cornerstone for nearly 6 years. My first, visit was Father's Day, 2010. this is my wife Kelly, my bride of 27 years. my kids are Samuel, who will be 20 next, actually this month, he'll be 20, so no longer a teenybopper.

my daughter Hannah is 18. And Micah is 14, he'll be 15 in September. so my wife has been, most of you probably don't even know me, but you probably know my wife or my kids, more than me. she served in children's ministry for, in children's church for since we've been here.

My son. Sam, just graduated his freshman year at Cal Baptist, and he serves on the worship team. he's a young skinny guy. He's like 95 pounds, with glasses, and probably the most famous for being a friend of Thomas Kumamoto.

my daughter Hannah is probably, famous for being, known among the cornerstone moms as the baby whisperer, cause she could put any baby to sleep. and my son Micah, my 14 year old, 6'1, about 205 pounds, size 13 boats, And he's graduating from 8th grade, this year. He, if you see him around here, he's usually like either carrying chairs or doing something. He shows great initiative not only, around here but around the house as well, and as for me, probably the most thing I'm, I'm most famous for is being a, a coffee snob.

So, if you forget my name, just ask for, hey, where's that coffee snob guy at? my first day at Cornerstone, like I said, was Father's Day 2010, and Milton preached on, seven encouragements to dads. and if you have not heard that sermon, go back and, and listen to it. it's, you'll find great encouragement as, as a mom and as a dad.

and it was that day where, it was 2 days after that where he started what's now known as the Second Day Man Forum. and that's where husbands and fathers and grandfathers alike, we all get together around the word of God and we, we learn to be the biggest repenters in the family. and that's probably the, the, the biggest overarching goal of man forum. too many of our kids from this generation and past have never heard an apology from their dad.

yet we, we've screw up time after time after time, and we owe our kids apologies. they just don't get them. So, yeah, after church that day, I remember getting, getting back into the car, with Kelly, and we're, we're like, just pinch me because did this really happen today? we live in in Murrieta, we're about 31 miles away, but it is, it is worth the drive, to come here, week after week, for me it's a couple of times a week at least because, coming to Man forum as well.

So, it's not, it's not the church's role, to teach our kids the word of God. It's, it's on the dad. we're gonna get great teaching here, but once a week doesn't cut it. Once a week doesn't cut it.

and, and I had a conviction from passages like Ephesians 6:4 and Colossians 3:21, that are very clear to dads. and, and this church equips us, to be better fathers, gives us the tools that we need. Thomas, I gave the intro already. So, Cornerstone provides a great, great corporate worship, but, but family worship, it's, it's on us, it's on the dads, and if you're a single mom, we wanna come alongside the single moms as well because there's gonna come a point where your boys will start looking like men.

And it'll be a little bit harder to handle at that point. And at that point, really, the church needs to come alongside the single moms. So, On your, outlines you guys have in front of you, there's a story, and I think it's important to read this, verbatim, from Hudson Taylor in Early Years, The Growth of a Soul by Doctor and Mrs. Howard Taylor.

Hudson Taylor's grandfather, James, surrendered his life to Jesus and became a Christian on the morning of his wedding day. Wow, that's crazy. So, everybody's there ready to party, of course, and, and all of a sudden that morning, he gets saved. So, all this happens here.

His wife, Betty found out about his salvation at the wedding. She was not happy. Thus, their married life got off to an awkward start. You think, but God intervened and it wasn't long before, Betty got saved.

The following excerpt tells a story of how her conversion took place. Quote, and meanwhile, what about Betty? Well, she was far from happy. Her heart told her James was right, but she was most unwilling to share with him the reproach of Christ, so she grumbled and scolded and managed to make things generally uncomfortable from the first day of their first life together, James had commenced family prayers, but Betty refused to join him and busied herself ostentatiously about other things.

At last one evening she was more trying than usual and more unreasonable in her reproaches. James bore it as long as he could and then before she knew it, before she knew what was happening, Betty found herself lifted in his strong arms and carried to the room upstairs. Where she was gonna get it right. There he knelt down and keeping her still beside him poured out all his sorrow and concern and prayer.

She had not realized how much he cared. His earnestness solemnized and impressed her, and though she would not show it, she began to be troubled by a sense of sin. All next day her distress deepened. How willingly then would she have been as her husband was.

In the evening, the Bible was brought out as usual and Betty was glad enough to listen. The prayer that followed seemed just what she was needing, and that night, while James was still on his knees, she entered into peace with God. so we'll catch up on this a little bit later, but here's, basically, the outset of, of family worship. Thus, at the outset of their married life, these two were united in the best of ways, and as the years went on they became increasingly happy and helpers of one another's faith.

so here's the premises. Cornerstone is a multi-facility church. Every home is a church facility. so this is not the church facility.

you guys are all extensions of Cornerstone. Every home is a power center for worship, for ministry, for instruction and outreach and hospitality. Hospitality is one of the biggest ways that we're gonna show our godliness to our neighborhood. migration of ministry should be occurring.

So family worship divine, defined. Family worship is the regular gathering of the family for the reading of scripture, recitation of truth, and praying together. So the history of family worship, Family worship was taught and practiced in the Old Testament. 0.1 the Shama.

Deuteronomy 6 These words which I'm commanding you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall write them on the doorpost of your house and on your gates. When your son asks you in time to come, saying, what do the testimonies and the statutes and the judgments mean which the Lord our God commanded you, then you shall say to your son.

And so on. the Life Application Study Bible says this of Deuteronomy 6:4-9. This passage provides the central theme of Deuteronomy. It sets a pattern that helps us relate the word of God to our everyday lives.

We are to love God, think constantly about his commandments, teach his commandments to our children, and live each day by the guidelines of His word. God emphasized the importance of parents teaching the Bible to their children. The church and Christian schools cannot be used to escape from this responsibility. The Bible provides so many opportunities for object lessons that it would be a shame to study it only one day a week, namely Sundays.

Eternal truths are most effectively learned in the loving environment of a God-fearing home. It goes on to say, with respect to Deuteronomy 6:7. The Hebrews were extremely successful at making religion an integral part of life. The reason for their success was that religious education was life oriented, not information oriented.

They use the context of daily life to teach about God. The key to teaching your children to love God is stated simply in these verses. You must make God a part of your everyday experiences. You must teach your children diligently to see God in all aspects of life, not just those that are church related.

in the Passover, Exodus 12:26, and it will come about when your children will say to you, what does this right mean to you? That you shall say and you'll tell them about the Passover. Abraham, in Genesis 18, since Abraham was surely become a great and mighty nation, and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed, for I have chosen him in order that he may command his children after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice in order that the Lord may bring upon Abraham what he has spoken about him.

So that's Genesis 18, but we get to Genesis 22:7.

And this is Isaac talking when he's about to be offered up. He says, behold the fire in the wood, but where's the lamb for the burnt offering? So, most people say Isaac was somewhere around 12 years old when this was about to happen. so he knew so much about, he knew all the details about the bird offering, and he says like, all right, Dad, something's missing here.

What, what's, what's, where's the lamb? So, So that that Abraham was teaching his son about burn sacrifices and. And how we amend for sin. Joshua 24:15, very famous one.

As for me, in my house, we will worship the Lord. Job, and it came about when the days of feasting had completed their cycle that Job would send and consecrate them, rising up early in the morning, an offering and offering burnt offerings according to the number of them all, for Job said, Perhaps my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts. Thus Job continually. prayed and offered up these sacrifices.

in the Psalms, Psalm 118:15, the voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the dwelling place of the righteous. All right. So, at this point, I want you guys to turn around and do some intermingling with somebody behind you. And, and what we're gonna do together is go back to Deuteronomy chapter 6, verses 4 through 9.

And list some practical ways that we could teach our children about God in everyday life. All right, so let's take a couple of minutes to do that. All right, let's go ahead and wind down. Right.

OK, let's hear from some of you guys. What are, what were some of your ideas on how we can be talking to our kids about God in everyday life? And having all our curriculum be related. Everything is Yeah, so through homeschooling, and having all your curriculum related, To the centrality of who God is, right?

and even God, created math, right? So any others? Any other good ideas out there? OK, so I know Melanie's not gonna like.

But I remember her kids were over at my house when they were younger one time, and I remember she called up and she said, OK, my kids need to come home because I need them to fold laundry, and they got so excited. I think, yes, because that meant mom was gonna read to them aloud, and I know that. so they got to fold laundry when mom was reading to them, and, and I know she even though she said that they were just fun books, but they always had built, built character. They were character books on some, like, that shaped them or whatever.

Pushing character books. So, but I just like that, I, so there's another reason, folding laundry and bringing. Yeah, so making chores fun, right? Making chores into like a, a reading time where the family's gonna gather around and while they're doing chores and folding clothes, mom or dad can be reading to them.

That's really cool. any others? All right, cool. Thank you so much, you guys.

OK, so we're at point B. family worship was taught and practiced in the early church, the early church. The Jerusalem Church Acts 2:46, day by day applying strength towards and breaking bread according to the household, they were taking their meals together with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.

within the Ephesian Church as well, Ephesians 5:18 and, and on. it says to, to be filled with the spirit, speaking and singing and making melody and giving thanks, being subject to one another. Wives to your own husbands, husband, the children, the fathers, the slaves, the masters, everybody is included, within that, within the Ephesian church. Ephesians 6:4, fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

One of my favorites. the Asia Minor Church, First Peter 3:7 says, you husbands live with your wives in an understanding way, as with someone weaker since she is a woman, and show her honor, show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered. And listen to What Don Whitney says about this, the prayers here are those prayed together by husbands and wives. It is also true that the individual prayers of the husband will be hindered if he does not live with his wife in an understanding way and if he does not show honor to her.

But here the text speaks of mutual prayer. Peter assumes that Christian couples pray together. That was just an assumption back in the early church. And quite honestly, it's probably one of the greater reasons.

I heard somebody say one time, Couples that pray together, their retention rate of their marriage is 99%. we talk about the percentages of divorce and, and, and the killer of of marriage. If, if we make it a point to pray together guys that'll keep our marriages together for sure. point C, family worship was prized by the ancient church, by the ancient church.

At an early hour in the morning, the family was assembled and a portion of scripture was read from the Old Testament, which was followed by a hymn and a prayer. In which thanks were offered up to the Almighty for preserving them during the silent watches of the night and for His goodness in permitting them to meet the health of body and soundness of mind and at the same time His grace was implored to defend them amid the dangers and temptations of the day, to make them faithful to every duty and enable them in all respects to walk worthy of their Christian vocation.

and in the evening before retiring to rest, the family again assembled. the same form of worship was observed as in the morning.

This is from Lyman Coleman, the Antiquities of the Christian Church. Point D Continuing throughout history, family worship was prized by the Reformation Church. The Reformation Church. Some of these are pretty killer here.

0.1 God is to be worshiped everywhere in spirit and in truth, as in private families daily and in secret, each one by Himself. That's the Westminster Confession of Faith. 0.2 the directory of family for family worship. He, speaking of the dad, is to be gravely and sadly rep reproved by the session.

After which reproof if he still, if he be found still to neglect family worship, let him be for his obstinacy in such an offense suspended and debarred from the Lord's supper as being justly esteemed unworthy to communicate therein till he amend. By Westminster Assembly. That's pretty crazy. So, back, back here, you guys, if, if dads were not participating in leading in family worship, He was debarred.

He was put under church discipline. He was told at that point, you will not partake in family worship, you will not partake in communion in the Lord's Supper, unless you're leading your family in worship. Pretty crazy where we've come up to this day. Matthew Henry.

If therefore our houses be houses of the Lord, we shall for that reason love home, reckoning our daily devotion the sweetest of our daily delights and our family worship the most valuable of our family comforts. A church in the house will be a good legacy nay, it will be a good inheritance to be left to your children after you. So this is something that we can start, in our home. And it can carry on for generations and generations and generations, and we'll go over this a little bit later but there's some ridiculous numbers if this was turned into multiplication with our own families we would be like pastors of one of these multi churches that that are out there.

Millions can be affected. 0.3 the impact of family worship, the impact of family worship. point A says it's upon the parents, upon the parents. Daily family worship Forces the issue of Christian piety before, before the family every 24 hours.

It forces parents in the roles of preachers, evangelists, worship leaders, intercessors, and pastors. Who is adequate for this? No one, of course He would attempt To be so, but must necessarily be forced to his knees. Children growing up with the daily experience of seeing parents humbled in worship, focusing on spiritual things, submitting to the authority of the word, instructing their children will not easily turn from Christ.

Our children should grow up with the voices of their fathers pleading for their souls in prayer ringing in their ears, leading to their salvation or else haunting them for the rest of their lives. As everything that God calls us to do, We are to be dependent on him. Right, all the commands in the New Testament, for, for a husband to love his wife the way Christ loved the church. We don't do that in the flesh.

We have to be dependent on the spirit. Right. And, and just, what he, what he's saying here, our children should grow up with the voices of their fathers pleading for their souls in prayer ringing in their ears. One of my kids recently said, I often hear a mom's voice ringing in my ears, so that kinda tells me I need to get on my game.

Point B Upon the children. Point B is upon the children. We sometimes hear of children of Christian parents who do not grow up in the fear of God. And we are asked how it is that they turn out so badly.

In many, in many, very many cases, I fear that there's such a neglect of family worship that it's not probable that the children are at all impressed by any piety supposed to be possessed by their parents, and that's from Charles Spurgeon. We're not gonna get into this too much, but, there's some numbers floating around out there, that says about 65 or 70% of kids that grow up in the church, by the time they graduate college, they'll have walked away from the faith. It's so critical dads and moms that we get the hearts of our kids.

And this is the, the best place to do this is within the context of family worship.

and, and I, I love our youth pastors, but they're gonna have our kids for 4 years and their hands are full even during those 4 years, all right? So. Beyond that, There there won't be a youth pastor in their life once they get out of high school so I I think that's probably one of the biggest reasons is that kids hit college there's a lot of freedom there they make up their own choices and and we as parents, never really had their heart we never saw to it that they owned up their own relationship with God and that is our biggest priority so again it's critical that we get the hearts of our kids.

Next point, in italics.

This is gonna be a little bit lengthy, but it's really critical, critical, train with this thought continually before your eyes that the soul of your child is the first thing to be considered. Precious, no doubt, are these little ones in your eyes, but if you love them, think often of their souls. No interest should weigh with you so much as their eternal interests. No part of them should be so dear to you as the part that will never die.

The world with all its glory shall pass away. The hills shall melt, the heavens shall be wrapped together as a scroll. The sun shall cease to shine, but the spirit which dwells in those little creatures whom you love so well shall outlive them all, and whether in happiness or in misery, so to speak, as a man, will depend on you. He's talking to us dads.

this is the thought that should be uppermost in your mind and all you do for your children and every step that you take about them and every plan and scheme and arrangement that concerns them, do not leave them out that might do not leave out that mighty question how will this affect their souls. Soul love is the is the soul of all love. To pet and pamper and indulge your child as if this world was all he had to look to and this life the only season for happiness to do this is not true love but cruelty.

It is hiding from him that grand truth which he ought to, which ought to be made to learn from his very infancy that the chief end of his life is the salvation of his soul.

That's gotta be at our forefront, parents. It's gotta be at our forefront. A true Christian must be no slave to convention if he would train his child for heaven. He must not be content to do things merely because they are the custom of the world.

Bullet one to teach them and instruct them in certain ways merely because it is the accepted norm. To allow them to read books of a questionable sort, merely because everyone else reads them. To let them form habits of a doubtful tendency, merely because they are habits of the day. So, how many times do we hear that, parents?

Like, so and so has that cute dress on, why can't I have that, right? so and so's reading that book, what's wrong with that movie? this is, this is, on us, not just to tell our kids what's, what's right and wrong, but to give them the tools because like I have a, an almost 20 year old right now that, still I get some battle with him once in a while, but now he's at the point where I'm telling him. This is gonna be you really soon.

And you're gonna be the one battling with your own son, and you're gonna need to develop a criteria for what you let your eyes see. And what you let your ears hear. And for what comes out of your mouth. Like, in, in that criteria is all within the scriptures, you guys, it's all within the scriptures.

Philippians 4:8, is, is a great one, whatever is lovely, whatever is true, whatever is honorable. Yeah, whatever's pure, let, let that be a criteria for, for their movies and for the music that they listen to and, and for the clothes that they wear. Right. The last point from JC Royal.

Instead. He must train with an eye to his children's souls. He must not be ashamed to hear his training be called singular and strange. Like, how many times do we hear that as parents?

Like so and so doesn't do that. How come we have to do that, right? Don't be afraid to let your training be called singular. And strange, right?

what if it is? The time is short, the fashion of this world passes away. He that has trained his children for heaven rather than for earth, for God rather than for man, he is the parent that will be called wise at last. And that's from the Duties of Parents by JC Royal.

That's most of chapter 4 that I gave you guys. they're short little chapters, but they are like condensed and they are, they are golden. So if you've never heard of that, there, it, it, it's a great little tiny read but just loaded. Loaded.

Now, here are some of these numbers I was telling you guys about earlier. Here, here's the science. If your children are in your home for 18 years, you have 6570 occasions, figuring a 6-day week for family worship. If you learn a new psalm or a hymn each month, they will be exposed to 216 in those 18 years.

If you, if you read a chapter a day, you will complete the Bible 4.5 times in 18 years. That's crazy, huh? how many times do we like, Do we even scarcely read through the whole of scripture, from beginning to end. If you do, family worship, a chapter a day, that your kids will have heard it 4.5 times by the time they're 18.

Every day, they will confess their sins and plead for mercy. Every day they will intercede on behalf of others. Think in terms of the long view. What is the cumulative impact of just 15 minutes of this each day, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year for 18 years.

At the rate of 6 days a week, excluding Sundays. OK, so, here's some more numbers. one spends 1.5 a week in family worship. So at 15 minutes a day, that's 1 hour and a half of family worship.

that's about the length of a, of a home Bible study that a lot of us probably go to, right? 78 hours a year. is about the length of the meeting hours of 7 weekend retreats. 1,404 hours over the course of 18 years.

That's about the length of the assembly hours of 40 week long summer camps, assuming about 30 of those, 30 such hours in an average weeklong camp. When you establish your priorities, think in terms of the cumulative effects of this upon your children. Think of the cumulative effect upon you as a parent. how much is this gonna change you as a parent, as an individual, after 40 or 60 or 80 years of daily family worship?

All this without having to drive anywhere. How much is gas? and that's from Terry Johnson on the family worship book. 0.3 if you love your children, if you would bring down the blessing of heaven upon your families, if you would have your children make their houses be receptacles of religion when they set up in life for themselves, if you would have religion survive in this place and be conveyed from age to age, if you would deliver your own souls, I beseech, I entreat, I charge you to begin and continue the worship of God.

In your families from this day to the close of your lives, consider family family religion not merely as a duty imposed by authority but as your greatest privilege granted by divine grace. So, It is a ministry. You guys, and, and it is our greatest ministry, the fact that we are, we are saved by grace and by that same grace God gives us ministries like, ministries are not like they're not duties, they're not burdensome, they are a grace to us. And of which family worship is the most intimate and transformative.

of all the ministries that we can do or take part of, this is, this is going to be like the most intimate and transforming. Excuse me. that we'll ever partake in. All right, it could be 15 minutes, it could, it could lead to 2 hours, it depends on, on.

The heaviness of the hearts of our kids could depend on our heaviness of our hearts, life happens and it happens, within the context of, of family worship. 0.4, all of, all 5 of us children decided to express thanks to our mother and father one thing without, for one thing without consulting each other. Remarkably, all 5 of us thanked our mother for her prayers, and all 5 of us thanked our father. For his leadership of family worship.

My brother said, Dad, the oldest memory I have is of tears streaming over your face as you taught us from Pilgrim's Progress on Sunday evenings. When I was only 3, God used you in family worship to convict me that Christianity was real. No matter how far I went astray in later years, I could never seriously question the reality of Christianity, and I wanna thank you for that from Joel Beecky. So, All right.

So at this point, what I wanna do is we're gonna do a little bit of interaction again. I want you to mix, with a group of parents of teens, or adults, so, adult teen parents mixed in with some, parents of younger kids. All right, mixing, so we're gonna do some mixing up here, and share some thoughts, on family worship experiences, including defeats and victories, including defeats and victories. So let's take a couple of minutes, talk about this for a little bit, and I'll get back to you guys in just 2 minutes.

OK I All right, guys, let's start wrapping up our thoughts a little bit. And then. All right, guys, let's try to get back to our seats. Hm OK, we got one more fill-in answer here.

but before we get to that, so, anybody care to share some of their, their victories or defeats, lessons learned? Within within family worship. Just I grew up doing my parents. What Yeah You so much.

That's great. So for those of you that didn't get a chance to hear, so before every meal, the parents would, would have the kids and the family all together sing a song, and just the value of that because within a hymn or a praise song there, the scriptures are contained and so a lot of good truth. So, so learning some good truth, right before dinner. So that's really cool, really cool.

anybody else? Cool. All right. Point C, getting back to our, our outline here.

Upon the generations to come, generations to come. Now this is where we where we need. We need vision sometimes to see beyond what's 2 ft in front of our face. But think about this, 12 generations, approximately 300 years, right?

if, if there were 3 kids in each family. By the time those 300 years are done, We could have affected 1,594,323 people. Give or take. Right.

But those are the results, those are the staggering numbers of, of family worship, earlier I mentioned, that like 70% of the kids walk away, from the faith that actually grew up in the church and by the time they're out of college, but here's the thing, with parents that take the time to read and pray and do family worship with their kids, the retention rate is a ridiculous 90%. 90%. 15 minutes a day, guys. 15 minutes a day.

To, and, and. Of course, that is, that's by the grace of God, right? That's God's job to do the saving of our kids. But we could be a tool in that.

We could be a tool that's used by God for our kids walking with God for the rest of their lives and then how would it affect their kids, our grandkids and our great grandkids. Right Thus the critical moments of life come with little warning, silently as the sunrise, often shedding divine illumination upon those things all unexpectedly one day we see, as we have never seen before, duty becomes plain in the light of eternity. Then we have reached a turning point indeed and everything depends upon the response of the soul to the claims and promises of God.

Had young Taylor decided.

That winter morning, how different. the sequel must have been. It was only the beginning, the tiny spring from which was to flow blessing not only for himself. Only in his household from generation to generation but for an ever widening circle in England, China, and throughout the Church of God, such a moment may come for us today fraught with far reaching issues.

And that's from Hudson Taylor, remembering his grandfather James Taylor, who that morning, the morning of his wedding got saved and initiated family worship in his house. All right. I wonder if James Taylor, Hudson Taylor's grandfather had a clue. What could be happening two generations later.

Right? Probably not. Probably not, but he knew what he was faithful to. He knew what God had called him to do, and that is, family worship beginning right away.

So, we'll go over the mechanics, Pretty quickly, so the mechanics of family worship, number one, reading the Bible. 2 Timothy 3:16, all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness in order that the man of God may be equipped, totally equipped for every good work. including prayer, including singing. of course.

I agree with Matthew Henry when he says that they pray. In the family, they that pray in the family do well. They that pray and read the scriptures do better. But they that pray and read and sing do best of all.

There is a completeness in that family worship which must much be desired. And that's from Charles Spurgeon, speaking of Matthew Henry. So single men. Single men, if there's any single guys out here, I know there's a couple in this room and a couple of newlyweds, resolve to begin a time of worship with your fiance from the night you become engaged.

Build your marriage from the start on the foundation of family worship. This is holy husbanding right here. And it is much easier to begin the worship of God together before your wedding day than after your habits and routines of married life have been established. How many can say amen to that?

Totally. If you start these habits young in your relationship, they're gonna, they're going to continue. If you don't, they won't. There will never be room for these things.

we encourage our young guys all the time. when you start dating a gal, that's when leadership starts, all right, you don't have to wait for, for engagement start it right away in the dating relationship, all right, start taking leadership, guys, because if it does, if it's not happening there, it's probably not gonna happen. And if you really want to win the heart of that gal, this is where it starts. It starts right here.

To the single gals, resolve not to marry a man who will not pray with you daily and lead you in family worship. For he will not lead you in this way before you're, for if he will not lead you in this way before you're married, it is very unlikely that he will do so after you're married. If a man shows an interest in marrying you, talk to him about family worship before you commit your life and the lives of your children to him. Critical.

Critical. I'm glad I printed this, all this, all this up for you guys because some of this you're gonna need to take home. As much as I hate to do it, we're gonna skip over. The father as prophet, priest, and king, and you guys could take that home to, to do some reading.

Just some closing thoughts. Going over to 0.6 closing thoughts. what's an appropriate age for your kids to be participants? What do you, what do you guys think?

I wanna hear from you here. What do you think is an appropriate age for your kids to be participants in family worship? 2, OK. Any others?

So that, that's good. that's when they're starting to talk, they could actually see, mom and dad modeling prayer. they may not understand obviously, the scripture, but that's a good age for, for, participating. as far as for us as parents, pretty much in the, when the baby's in the womb, right?

that we can, it can start right then. the, the, the baby can get used to hearing the dad's voice, can get used to hearing scripture, can get used to hearing what prayer sounds like. later on, they can begin participating as soon as they recognize what a command looks like and what it sounds like, all right, and that's probably around age 2 they can begin learning the discipline of self control around that time. So, some kids, just depends on how they are, sit quietly around a table, or on the sofa for family worship, some kids.

need to keep their hands active so we have some of our kids that did Legos, while we were reading together, we had some that were doing some coloring while we were reading together, and then every once in a while I would ask them a question like, hey, what did I just say? and they're like, oh, spot on, so they're listening, but, but, but they're, but they, they listen best sometimes when they're active with their hands, so. so other activities with their hands are good. iPads, little games?

No. Not going to happen. All right. Because then they're worshiping that.

So, with regard to family worship, what do we quantify as a, as a win? What's a victory? like, once a week, some of the early churches and, and ancient churches did it, 6 times a week. What do you guys, what do you guys are, what are you thinking is a, is a victory here?

Like twice. I, I think it's gonna depend on their age. All right. So when they're young and they're, they're easy to gather up, it, it's pretty easy to get them all around the table.

when they start hitting their teens, so I think when they're really, really young. Probably 4 or 5 days a week is, is pretty practical. When, as they get older, they become teenagers, I think 2 or 3 times a week for me is a victory, to be doing that, to be grabbing my kid's heart. and I have a question.

Does, does anybody, any of you guys have planners in your families, like any of your kids' planners? Like they got, like when, from the time they wake up, they, they gotta know what they're doing that day. OK, I gotta do this today and I gotta do this today. OK, so I, I have one of those.

And, and, and what happens when family worship doesn't fit into their plans, right? So you, you, you give them the announcement, OK, we got family worship in 15 minutes, like, what? What? I didn't have that written down and, you're, you're, you're gonna get some guff.

All right? So, so with, with the planners, here's where, where mom, can kick in a little bit. She could just make the announcement. All right, Dad's gonna be home at 6, we're gonna have dinner, and then right after that, we're gonna do family worship.

So the planner can get it in their plan for the night. All right? So, so what if the planner He says, but I don't wanna do it tonight. OK, then you could have dishes.

All right. So what if I don't, I don't, I still don't wanna do it. OK, you got dishes tomorrow night as well, and just kinda keep adding to the list. They'll, they'll get the message.

But, but here's the funny thing, our planner, who is, probably the, the biggest I don't wanna say she's, well, the fighter. Blew it, huh?. I, I'll tell you one thing, my daughter, even though she gives us the most guff with coming to that stuff, she is the one that probably participates the most when we get down to it. When we get down to the nitty gritty, she's the one at first she's like.

Bummed out, eyes droopy, face droopy, that whole thing, but by the time we're done, she's probably the biggest participator. So, so take heart, all right? If you have the planners in your family, there's probably a really good chance that they will be the biggest participators. So this could mean, like I said, 15 minutes, this could mean, 2 hours.

It can mean longer sometimes. It, it really can. I wanna tell Wendell, yeah, Jones. It is that enough consistency.

My Later in life start making sap. They expected. If there was something going on All right. Yeah So, so our kids get used to the norm, after a while.

So, keep plugging away, dads, moms, stay consistent with it. And here's my last point. Love your kids not only in the present. Not only the present but love them 20 years from now.

30 years from now. All right. Because family worship affects our kids. It totally does.

getting back to what Joel Beey said, thanking his dad 30 years later for family worship. 30 years later, his kids were rising up and calling their mom blessed and calling their dad blessed, right? It does affect our kids' lives, and it is never, never, never in vain. All right.

any other questions, you guys? Any questions, any thoughts, If you don't wanna verbalize them out loud, we have our sheets, in front of us that we are welcoming questions, along the way. Yeah, Alvin. I Really Hm All right.

All right Mm Right Right. OK. So, what Alvin was saying, in case you guys didn't hear, is that for his own accountability, he would just get the Bible and they, and they would do family worship around dinner time. So he would set it right in the middle of the table as a reminder to him and to the kids that, hey, while we're, while we're eating, we're gonna be doing family worship together.

All right? So that's a good way to remind us, to do that. And and we're. Getting ready to wrap up All right.

All right guys, thank you so much for your time. if, if you have any questions, come and see me. Just one caveat here, I am I am not this guy like all these notes. These are good good truths.

this is something that I don't, I don't do perfect. I was just, picked to do this class so. but, but really, really good stuff, life changing for sure, if this is part of our, our routine, week in and week out. All right, so let me close with some prayer.

Father, thank you so much for, for this time. Thank you for the gift of family worship. thank you for, the transformation and the intimacy. That can only take place within that concept.

within those moments. I pray for the dads here that today would be a day of of turnaround. a day of new decisions. To be thinking about not just the here and now, and how this may affect our kids and us, but for generations to come.

we don't know what your future holds, for our kids. They could be. A great missionary down the road. But it's gonna take place in the context of, of family worship.

So, stir us dads up, stir us up. And get us on fire for you. And make us committed men. To the grace of family worship.

We thank you for everybody here today. We ask your blessing upon the remainder of this day. It's in Jesus' name, we thank you. Amen.

Thank you for listening to this message, which is part of Cornerstone Fellowship Bible Church's weekly adult equipment school. Feel free to distribute this message to others, but do not alter its content or charge for copies without permission. For additional messages, sermons, or seminars, please visit us online at www.cornerstoneBible.org. Once at the site, click on resources, then click on sermons where you may stream or download messages.

Cornerstone Fellowship Bible Church exists to glorify God by helping people journey from brokenness to wholeness by experiencing the gospel in all its fullness. More information about Cornerstone Fellowship Bible Church can be found on our website at www.cornerstoneBible.org. You can also call the church office at 951-781. 8174 or visit us at 1190 Columbia Avenue in Riverside, California.

Once again, thank you for listening and God bless.